Your Life Story in Six Words

Could you summarize your life story in six words? It’s an interesting task. About one million people have done just that and posted their title onto Six-Word Memoir, a popular website launched back in 2006.

As a professional memoir writer, six words don’t carry me far. But as a game player and one who enjoys introspection, the challenge grabs me.

Here are some six-word titles featured on the site:

• Sometimes you just need to laugh.

• All he wanted was to win.

• Hope was my Dad’s middle name.

• I lisp, I get speech therapy.

• Someone called us orphans. Not true.

• The purity of a child’s eyes.

• Mom tired of wrapping Christmas presents.

Churches, synagogues, boardrooms, and schools are using the six-word challenge as a “break the ice” tactic, a way to introduce individuals to each other in group settings. Certainly, one can imagine the benefits of starting a meeting in this thought-provoking way.

But I like the idea of sitting quietly and pondering the concept alone as well. What is the main theme of your life? What is your life philosophy? What years-old memory comes back to you again and again?

And how can you express it in six words?

Maybe your six words could serve as an eventual title of your many-thousand word memoir. Maybe it could serve as a chapter title.

Or maybe it could just provide you with an opportunity to reflect. If the challenge appeals, spend a few moments drafting your six-word memoir title. And if you’d like help drafting the rest of your life story, please let me know. I’d be delighted to help.